A poor way to make peace

Appearances aren't everything, but they're not bupkes either. So the news that Israel has been appropriating Palestinian land around one of the large settlement blocks near Jerusalem -- while at the same time preparing for a major peace conference in November -- looks like an effort to establish more facts on the ground before the talks.
That may not be it at all, of course, but that's what it looks like. And it looks bad.
There's always plenty of maneuvering before any negotiations. Just yesterday, a senior Fatah official warned of a third, more violent intifada if the upcoming conference doesn't yield results. That same official, Ahmed Qureia, offering a carrot along with the stick, also said Palestinians might be open to the idea of swapping land in the West Bank for an equal amount of Israeli territory.

A land swap will be key to any agreement. The settlement where Israel has appropriated 56 acres of private Palestinian land, Maale Adumim, is the largest of the settlement blocks, home to more than 30,000 people. Israel says the land is being used for a new road linking Jericho and Bethlehem, bypassing both Jerusalem and Maale Adumim. This will "improve the quality of life for Palestinians."
Says who? The Palestinians? In fact, the road is needed because of the construction of part of Israel's security wall, which itself slices through Palestinian land.
Arguably, the security wall is an ugly necessity, though we remain skeptical about it. It has deterred suicide bombings, though it has done nothing to stop rocket attacks on Israel.
But while Israel's security must be a bottom-line issue in any negotiations, its hold on land acquired in the 1967 war is not. The expansion of the settlements has necessitated a land swap of some kind, but the settlements -- and the security checkpoints between Israeli and Palestinian populations -- have been an aggressive assault on ordinary Palestinians.
Appropriating private Palestinian land at any time is questionable. Doing so before negotiations is deliberately provocative. It's not just bad form. It's bad diplomacy.